Hydrology is the study of the movement, distribution, and quality of water on Earth and other planets, including thehydrologic

cycle, water resources and environmental watershed sustainability. A practitioner of hydrology is a hydrologist, working within the fields of earth or environmental science, physical geography, geology or civil andenvironmental engineering. Hydrology is subdivided into surface hydrology and marine hydrology. Domains of hydrology include hydrometeorology,surface hydrology, hydrogeology, drainage basin management and water quality, where water plays the central role.Oceanography and meteorology are not included because water is only one of many important aspects within those fields. Hydrological research can inform environmental engineering, policy and planning. The term hydrology is from Greek: , hydr, "water"; and , logos, "study".
Contents
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1 History

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1.1 Branches 1.2 Related topics 1.3 Applications

2 Themes

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2.1 Groundwater 2.2 Infiltration 2.3 Soil moisture 2.4 Surface water flow 2.5 Precipitation and evaporation 2.6 Uncertainty analyses 2.7 Remote sensing 2.8 Water quality 2.9 Integrating measurement and modelling 2.10 Prediction 2.11 Statistical hydrology 2.12 Modeling 2.13 Transport

3 Organizations

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3.1 International research bodies 3.2 National research bodies 3.3 National and international societies 3.4 Basin- and catchment-wide overviews

4 Research journals

5 See also 6 Notes 7 Further reading 8 External links

History[edit]
This section includes a list of references that remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. Please improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (April 2012) Hydrology has been a subject of investigation and engineering for millennia. For example, about 4000 BC the Nile was dammed to improve agricultural productivity of previously barren lands.Mesopotamian towns were protected from flooding with high earthen walls. aqueducts were built by the Greeks and Ancient Romans, while the history of China shows they built irrigation and flood control works. The ancient Sinhalese used hydrology to build complex irrigation works in Sri Lanka, also known for invention of the Valve Pit which allowed construction of large reservoirs, anicutsand canals which still function. Marcus Vitruvius, in the first century BC, described a philosophical theory of the hydrologic cycle, in which precipitation falling in the mountains infiltrated the Earth's surface and led to streams and springs in the lowlands. With adoption of a more scientific approach, Leonardo da Vinci and Bernard Palissy independently reached an accurate representation of the hydrologic cycle. It was not until the 17th century that hydrologic variables began to be quantified. Pioneers of the modern science of hydrology include Pierre Perrault, Edme Mariotte and Edmund Halley. By measuring rainfall, runoff, and drainage area, Perrault showed that rainfall was sufficient to account for flow of the Seine. Marriotte combined velocity and river cross-section measurements to obtain discharge, again in the Seine. Halley showed that the evaporation from theMediterranean Sea was sufficient to account for the outflow of rivers flowing into the sea. Advances in the 18th century included the Bernoulli piezometer and Bernoulli's equation, by Daniel Bernoulli, the Pitot tube. The 19th century saw development in groundwater hydrology, includingDarcy's law, the Dupuit-Thiem well formula, and Hagen-Poiseuille's capillary flow equation. Rational analyses began to replace empiricism in the 20th century, while governmental agencies began their own hydrological research programs. Of particular importance were Leroy Sherman'sunit hydrograph, the infiltration theory of Robert E. Horton, and C.V. Theis's aquifer test/equation describing well hydraulics. Since the 1950s, hydrology has been approached with a more theoretical basis than in the past, facilitated by advances in the physical understanding of hydrological processes and by the advent of computers and especially geographic information systems (GIS).

Branches[edit]
Chemical hydrology is the study of the chemical characteristics of water. Ecohydrology is the study of interactions between organisms and the hydrologic cycle. Hydrogeology is the study of the presence and movement of ground water. Hydroinformatics is the adaptation of information technology to hydrology and water resources applications.

Hydrometeorology is the study of the transfer of water and energy between land and water body surfaces and the lower atmosphere. Isotope hydrology is the study of the isotopic signatures of water. Surface hydrology is the study of hydrologic processes that operate at or near Earth's surface. Drainage basin management covers water-storage, in the form of reservoirs, and flood-protection. Water quality includes the chemistry of water in rivers and lakes, both of pollutants and natural solutes.